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User blog:Anvil Sykes/IGN interview with Hamish Brown (GTA)
Hello readers, this was an interview I found between IGN and Hamish Brown whos the head of PR at rockstar UK. He talks about GTA IV. Now the reason im posting this blog is cause a friend told me that half of whats said is untrue, as I've only played GTA IV breifley once I dont know much about the questions asked, so I was wondering if someone who has played it could shed some light. Heres the interview; IGN: We saw Niko walking into a random building and there were no load times. Surely you won't be able walk inside every building… Hamish Brown: '''It's physically impossible to create the inside of every building, plus that would be incredibly confusing for the player. So while there will be more interiors you can go into than ever before, you'll only be able to go into them if there's a purpose, whether it's a skyscraper or office block to have a meeting, or house if you're meeting someone. '''IGN: How much control will the player have over the physical and emotional development of Niko? Hugh Michaels: If you think about San Andreas, the character's face had shape but not much texture. There wasn't much scarring or wrinkles or anything like that, so it was much easier to fluff it up a bit to make it look like a fatter person or suck it in so they appear thinner. Doing something where there's this level of texture - with the level of graphics and the detail on the character's face - you'd literally have to map how the face would look like at every permutation of it. I'm also not sure how long people actually spent working out in the gym too; I think most people did it once or twice just out of curiosity but after that just got on with the game, so I think we could probably use the space needed to give that flexibility for more fun things. IGN: Going back to San Andreas, a key part of the opening section of the game was building up your gang and taking over territories and properties. Can we expect something similar in GTA IV? Hamish Brown: '''The property element of the game is being downplayed. It's been culled quite a lot because we don't really think it fits where we've gone with the game. Niko is an Eastern European who's come to Liberty City with only a suitcase to his name so it wouldn't be realistic if he ended up as a huge property baron. Also we don't know how much fun asset management is and if, in the context of the game, Niko has properties worth $10 billion then why would he want to do a mission for 150 dollars? So that aspect of the game has been trimmed down. Also, Niko's ambition when he came over was never to run New York, it was just to see his cousin and live the American dream, but it hasn't worked out that way because his cousin is a compulsive liar! Niko wants a better life though, so it's not as if you're only maintaining what you've got in the game; he wants a piece of the American dream but he probably won't end up in the penthouse of some skyscraper in midtown. We can also say that his past starts to catch up with him from the old country and there will be a gang element to the game. Maybe not in such a prolific way as before, but the Russian Mafia will be involved. So yeah, the whole gang thing will be in the game to some extent. '''IGN: How will GTA IV compare to, say, San Andreas in terms of the number of missions it will include? Hamish Brown: It's difficult to quantify in terms of gameplay and how big the how experience is going to be. As for how long it takes to play through, we haven't got a figure on that but there will be more to do than ever before. There will be more options, there will be loads of new things to do. Every aspect of the game is evolving and we're blurring the line between things that are on-mission and off-mission, so things that you do off-mission also have consequences. The world will be much more immersive and it'll be a more interactive experience, so in theory you could spend a whole lot of time playing it. We're fortunate to have a team that's worked together for the last 10 years. We have Aaron Garbut, our art director, who's been working on GTA from the beginning and he's probably the most talented person in the games industry in terms of art direction. If you've seen the trailer you know what he's capable of. Before, we were limited by the hardware, not by the team. Now he's got these next-gen toys to play with you're going to see something incredible. IGN: GTA IV's style is much more realistic compared to previous GTAs. Will that affect the way traditional in-game mechanics such as Wanted stars and health picks ups - which are almost cartoony in style - are presented?' 'Hugh Michaels: You're absolutely right, there is a more realistic, darker side to it and it wouldn't feel quite right if it mixed styles. The more realistic approach also has an effect on the characters - some of them were extreme, almost cartoon-type characters in previous games and that will also, to some extent, change to become more realistic. So, yeah this was the interview, if you think anything he said was'nt true or if theres anything he missed out, please let me know cause I dont want to judge someone on one persons views. :) Category:Blog posts